Tailhunter Fish Report

YELLOWFIN TUNA FINALLY JOIN THE PARTY at LAS ARENAS. DORADO MAKE STRONG COMEBACK at LA PAZ!

PHOTO: Jeff Sakuda from Montebello CA and Ron Imada from Whittier CA were there the first day the tuna bite went off taking these just north of Punta Pescadero

PHOTO 2: Fresh sashime and sushi. Jeff Sakuda (middle) is joined by Capt. Jorge
“Moscorone” on the right and Carlos “El Chofer” from La Paz

PHOTO 3 : Roger Van Steenkiste from Phoenix AZ might be 80-years-old but he can still pull on fish. This was his first return to La Paz in 20 years and we put him with the same captain (Victor) he had in 1986! Jerell Mulhollan (right) got his first tunas ever and was all set to eat the hearts. He would later get a 45 pound rooster and his largest dorado, also his first.

PHOTO: Fred Henkle (New York) and Mike Bradley (North Carolina) got in on the tuna bite south of Las Arenas landing fish up to 30 pounds on light tackle. They also racked up the dorado on the La Paz side later in the week. Mike worked all week for his first marlin and finally got one on the last day in the last half hour to top his trip.

PHOTO 5: Smiles say it all. Nothing like yellowfin tuna and a good day on the water with buddies! Jerrell and Roger strike a pose on Las Arenas beach near the lighthouse.

PHOTO 6: Joey Fuschetti is a high school coach from Irvine CA and is a frequent Las Paz visitor. He’s fished with us for alot of years and insists that using papaya rinds in the chum line got the dorado boiling as he worked Espiritu Santo Island.

PHOTO 7: Ken Melendres of Laguna Hills CA got this beefy sailfish off Espiritu Santo Island. Even though this was his first billfish, they gamely had planned to release the fish, but were unable to after it had swallowed the bait. The meat was distributed to hungry families in La Paz.

BIG FISH ROLL WITH TUNA, DORADO, SAILFISH and MARLN!

Wow, what a week of ups and downs! Happily, there were a lot more “ups” than “downs” and most of them involved pumping fishing rods up and down and being tied onto fish! There were a few low spots..like wondering all week if we were going to get hammered by a storm or hurricane, but (knock on wood), we dodged it and the fish came to chew! Great week overall! Two fins up!

La Paz

Started slow. We dinked and plinked here and there. We had big baits and small baits, but the fish just wouldn’t rally. Most of the catch was dorado and darn…the ones that were caught were mostly LARGE! But it could be a long day until something came along and busted your chops!

However, as the week went on…oh wow…gangbusters on the dorado! These fish were not only quantity…they were freakin’ QUALITY fish too! Quite a few fish in the 30-50 pound class just revved and rolling and barking and flipping and beating the hell out’ve the anglers. Several days there, the boats were done by noon and then spent hours cleaning fish at Balandra Beach. Guys were coming back shell-shocked! One afternoon, every one of my anglers laid down to take a “15-minute” nap after fishing. Not a single one woke up for the dinner bell. Everyone of them passed out dead tired!

It tapered just a tad at week’s end, but overall just outstanding dorado fishing with a bit of marlin tossed in. No one complained and a lot of happy tired grins

Las Arenas

It started early in the week with a bang as yellowfin tuna finally showed up to the party. We wait for these fish all year and using the report from one of the commercial pangeros our fleet motored about an hour south of Muertos Bay. About 1/4 mile off the beach, tossing handfuls of bait and the YFT’s came to play! Wham! Wham! Fish grabbing air! Fish inhaling bait! Smaller fish under the boat running through the chum lines and larger fish just outside teasing and blowing bait out’ve the water!

There were a few days there when we pulled away to head home and fish were still boiling! Now THAT’s solid fishing! Sometimes when too many pangas would show up ,the fish went to ground but I had our people put on small rubber core sinkers or start chunking with dead bait and BENDO! We’d be on again.

One other thing, using flurocarbon line sure seemed to make a difference on the tuna. Light fluro in the 20-25 range was the difference between having 2 or 3 more fish than the next boat.

The cool thing was as the week went on the fish moved up closer to our beaching areas such that right in front of the Las Arenas lighthouse at the drop off the tuna decided to hang out. But…on top it, dorado rolled in as well as some amberjack, pompano and several huge roosterfish were also caught! Just great variety. Even a big sierra was caught as well as some cabrilla and pargo.

Waters are 86 degrees. Air temps are 98-102 and the sun is blazing!

AIRLINE

Heads up! Delta Airlines officially starts flying Dec. 15th from Los Angeles to La Paz. Yay.

Aero Cal, while still dragging their feet (?) about flying out of Los Angeles has specials out of Tijuana as low as $133 one way.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355

FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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YELLOWFIN TUNA FINALLY BOIL FOR OUR LAS ARENAS BOATS AT END OF WEEK BUT VARIETY OF SPECIES PACES THE BITE FOR LA PAZ/LAS ARENAS AREA

Photo 1: Ryan Rogers of San Diego hefts a trophy-sized cabrilla (Mexican seabass) taken off the Las Arenas area. Considering how late in the year it is, we’re getting some super cabrilla right now.

Photo 2: Larry Rogers of San Diego (Ryan’s Dad) holds a toad of a bull dorado taken on the La Paz side near Espiritu Santo Island. Is this a big dorado or what? Larry and Ryan got several major league dorado.

Photo 3: Ryan Rogers holds one of several species of pargo you can catch right now. This particular one is a great-eating barred pargo (pargo mullato).

Photo 4: John Drucker came all the way down from Oregon and tagged this great bull dorado.

Photo 5: Robert and Cindi Bourque from Utah had a banner day fishing Las Arenas. Bob commented that he wished he had brought his fly rod as they took a number of different species including bonito, dorado, pargo and jacks.

TUNA COME TO CHEW AND BIG DORADO HIGHLIGHT INTERESTING WEEK

Folks, in the last 8 hours, I’ve had to re-write this fishing report 3 different times because things changed so rapidly! Basically it was kind of a s0-so week where you could really rip into some fish…or not… but some things happened late week that really got things fired up…

LA PAZ
Typical late summer fishing with big dorado pacing things. It was hardly wide-open, but for our La Paz anglers, having mackerel as baits got some of the bigger dorado to bite as well as marlin, but it could be a long lethargic day that suddenly erupts when a big dorado hits. Our boats worked far north of Espiritu Santo or on the West side of the island near Isla Ballena. There’s definitely a lot of dorado around, but often wouldn’t eat as we found many had a lot of squid in their stomachs. Several 60-70 pound dorado were caught. It really depended on boats. You could have a really slow day one day then the next be the king boat of the day.

The secret is to fish more than one day. Put time at the rail. Bring your best game. There were so many times where guys would come back looking disapointed and not have good fish counts. However, upon talking to them, I’d find out that they hooked some large fish but then they lost the fish due to lack of experience; not being ready; or simply dumb luck. I had three different guys this week tell me they had dorado over 60 pounds on the line but two of the guys told me “their hooks came untied (pigtailed!!!) which is just inexcusable. If you don’t know how to tie a proper hook don’t be embarrassed to have the captain tie the darned thing. Another guy said he thought it was a small dorado so he didn’t want to “put down his beer.” Well, the big dorado not only took his beer but ate his lunch too. You don’t get many chances!

LAS ARENAS

For Las Arenas, the buzz late in the week went out as 40 pound tuna breezed through the area in front of the Las Arenas lighthouse, but moved fast and wouldn’t eat the baits then 40-60 pound tuna crashed commercial boats south at Punta Pescadero, but were also moving too fast by the time sport pangas moved in. That was on Saturday!

Well, on Sunday, the fleets went full bore to the area to see if the tuna would come up and sure enough…yea! The summer tuna bite was on. No way to know how long this will last, but according to anglers, fish were “boiling all over.” The key was to get fish early. As more boats joined in the fish went to ground. Smarter anglers used flurocarbon and weights and got more of the YFT’s. These were a nice grade of 20-30 pound tuna! The other trick was to simply move off the spot and wait until other boats moved in then ninja back in and stealth fish as the only boat and throw bait…and watch the tuna come to par-TAY!

We’ll be exploring both areas more. In the meantime, debris lines from recent rains kept small to medium dorado in the area and inshore rooster and pargo fishing kept light tackle anglers going. It’s HOT and HUMID down here!

I was out several times this week with clients and I’m surprised at how different things are from one place to another and how it seems there’s nothing consistent right now. One day there’s only big mackerel or caballitos for bait. Another day, there’s only sardines. Another day the sardines are hard to find. Likewise, even the water and climate seem to be all over the place. Some mornings it’s gusty and bumpy and folks are feeling ill then an hour later, you’re praying for a breeze as the waters go so calm that you can’t tell where the sky ends and the water begins because there’s not a ripple on the water and sea and sky are the same color.

DESERT LIT UP WITH BLOOMS

Tell you one thing, the desert is probably as beautiful right now as you will ever see it. There’s been a lot of rain either in gentle showers or sporadic torrents all month and the desert is in full bloom. It doesn’t even look like the same country! Imagine Mexico being GREEN! Flowers are popping up all over. Grass is growing. The hills and mountains are a virtual carpet of green. Cactus are all puffed up from soaking up so much water and even the desert cattle are looking a little chubby! Great time to be in the countryside.

Oh…also tons of dolphin, whales and manta rays out here right now. Great show!

PROMISING STUFF HAPPENING

As we fished Las Arenas, there’s some debris lines building from stuff that washed out of the arroyos. It’s starting to gather up and form more distinct lines with wood and dried grass and parts of trees floating around out there. I think given a few days, these could be some great spots for dorado in the coming week or so.

Likewise for the tuna. It was right about this time the last two years that tuna popped up off Las Arenas. On Sunday they finally came to chew to the south of us and we got into some nice grade of fish. Will they stick around? Will the continue to move north? My captains seem to think so! Fingers crossed. We’ve been waiting for tuna all season.

FULL OF FRUIT?

Lastly, Joe Fuschetti has been a long time Tailhunter client and amigo. Joe INSISTS that he has found the latest and greatest thing to get dorado to burn the drags. Joe and his buddies Ken and Tim were off Espiritu Santo Island and fishing was slow. They were dragging both live and dead bait. Joe had some chopped fruit for breakfast and had also brought some fresh papaya on board. Tossing the green skins and orange-colored peels into the chum line, Joey tells me that suddenly fish started boiling. Bonito came to the rods and bird started diving. In quick succession they nailed a dorado. Joey tossed other fruit (watermelon and mango into the chum and nothing happened). He then fired off more papaya into the chumline and the fish boiled again and they got two more dorado as well as bonito! He thinks the orange color of the papaya did it, although the fish would not boil on sliced mango! Go figure. Anyway, Joe is so insistent that this works that he was even willing to put up or shut up and said I could post his e-mail address (He’s a coach for the San Diego School Dist). It’s JFuschetti@NMUSD.US. Don’t write me. Write him! I warned him, but he says this is his new secret weapon for dorado.

TRAVEL NOTES

Travel restrictions seem to have eased up a bit coming down here. No one is reporting any big problems with security but give yourself some extra time just-in-case. Also, I’ve had a number of clients coming through Tijuana now that Aero Cal and Avolar Air are flying to La Paz from there and all of them are raving at how easy it is.

Finally…Check your internet. Delta Air starts flying down here in December!

CALL WWW.DRUGLORDCHARTERS.COM!

Lastly, the notorious druglord cartel bad guy from Tijuana Javier Arrellano Felix was not one our of OUR boats! Thanks to all of you who e-mailed me during the week. The cartel king is alleged to have been responsible for all kinds of nasty things in TJ and other areas from assassinations to mass murder. He was busted early this week by the U.S. Coast Guard on a charter boat called “Dock Time” with 8 others while fishing. According to reports, they were fishing 15 miles outside of La Paz.

I had newspapers and magazines asking me for interviews or asking if I could find out who owned the boat. Everyone was buzzing trying to find out about the boat. Well, we’ve never even heard of that boat down here and it must be a big one to have 8 anglers on it as well as crew. Hope he was pre-paid and doesn’t ask for a refund!

HEAVEN IN A BUN

Muchisimas gracias to Marianne Suguwara and Jeff Sakuda who brought me two In-N-Out double-double animal style burgers this week. You have no idea how good those tasted. Marianne let them cool then wrapped each one carefully in wax paper then into a small zip lock bag and then into a larger zip lock bag. They were virtualy perfect when they arrived. I zapped one in my microwave to put a little heat on it and the second one I took out on the panga and savored every single bite. THAT’s what I’m talking about!!! I LOVE Mexican food, but after a whole season, things with salsa start to wear pretty thin. Chomping double double burgers was food of the gods!

That’s my story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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BIG DORADO PACE COMEBACK AFTER SLOW STARTING WEEK!

Photo: California Highway Patrol officer Randy Lyons from Elk Grove CA ran into a few days of tough fishing but hung in there and finished with a flourish nailing some nice bull dorado, his first ever striped marlin and this solid 42 pound bull (on the scale) which was his personal best. He caught it east of Espiritu Santo with popular Capt. Raul “Papa” Martinez of the Tailhunter Fleet.

BIGGER DORADO TURN A ROUGH WEEK AROUND!

Early in the week we got double whammied with a full moon and rainy windy weather. I think those were some of the poorest fishing days of the year. Local water temps dropped a good 4-8 degrees! However, by the end of the week we were on the upswing. Still not wide open, but the dorado that were caught were all generally trophy sized mahi. Marlin…especially striped marlin and occasional blues were also on the chew as things got back to normal. Even Las Arenas picked up with inshore species such as roosters, cabrilla, big pargo and even a few stray yellowtail got in the counts with some nice dorado as well as a few wahoo. The recent storms put out some nice lines of brush and trash that had washed down from the hills and by the end of the week dorado were hanging out under the current lines.

NEW TRAVEL REGS

Better give yourself extra time at the airport amigos. I’m sure you’ve heard about most of these new regulations. For East Coast travelers, they are not allowing ANY carry-on luggage of any kind except those that fit the exception.

So far, however, for travelers to Mexico, you can still carry stuff on, but check out the new stuff below:

US customs and Border Protection as well as the Transportation Security Administration (TASA) will be increasing enforcement efforts in international arrival areas, including the use of advanced targeting tools, special response teams including baggage and aircraft search teams, baggage X-ray equipment, specially-trained canine units, and explosive detection technology. (You thought taking off your shoes were bad…)

No liquids or gels of any kind will be permitted in carry on baggage. Such items must be in checked baggage. This includes all beverages, shampoo, sun tan lotion, creams, tooth paste, hair gel and other items of similar consistency. (Well, there goes the Grecian formula…)

Exception: Baby formula, breast milk (that’s a quote) , or juice if a baby or small child is traveling; prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger’s ticket; and insulin and essential other non-prescription medicines, which all must be presented for inspection at the checkpoint. Beverages purchased in the boarding area (beyond the checkpoint) must be consumed before boarding because they will not be permitted on board the aircraft. Pack lightly and use clear plastic bags to facilitate screening. For international flights arrive 3.5 hours prior to departure.

That’s my story!
Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter InternationalWebsite: www.tailhunter-international.com
Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115
E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com
U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745
Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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DORADO AND OTHER FISH GET SCRATCHY ALONG WITH WEATHER – La Paz Fishing Report for Aug. 5, 2006

PHOTO: Dave Berthold came all the way from New Jersey to “see what West Coast humidity was like.” He also got several nice days of dorado fishing taking a number of fat bulls like this hefty dorado fishing north of La Paz.

SCRATCH FISHING FOR LAS ARENAS AND LA PAZ SO HAVE YOUR “A” GAME WITH YOU

Interesting week. I think we’re still adjusting a bit from that storm two weeks ago and continued iffy weather where it’s blazingly sunny one day then windy and snotty the next. It seemed like we were coming back pretty nicely. Maybe we weren’t getting the numbers of dorado previously but we made up for in quality what we lost in quantity as most of the fish were really nice bulls.

Then, late in the week, we had a tiny little squall and the fish either lockjawed or pushed far outside. I mean way outside north of El Bajo or on the edges of our perimeter east of Cerralvo or south almost to the East Cape. Some marlin grabbed lures, but by this last Saturday, it was considerably slower. I think the fish are just re-adjusting. Inshore fishing for Las Arenas and La Paz is still good. Some pargo hanging in the rocks as well as some roosterfish. But really got scratchy over the weekend.

On both sides, if you were on the right boat you got a fish or two or three. If you weren’t or you weren’t on your game, it was disappointing. There’s fish to be caught right now, but if you aren’t sharp or miss an opportunity, that could be the one or two bites of the day. Everyone late in the week is scattering looking for the bite. Nothing concentrated so it’s a pick. If the weather stabilizes, I think things will settle down.

Don’t know where the wahoo and tuna went, but there was a quick jag of tuna outside Cerralvo that quickly disappeared, and there was a wahoo or two hooked, but nothing stuck.

It’s hot and muggy and partially cloudy here.

That’s my story!

Jonathan

Jonathan Roldan’s Tailhunter International

Website: www.tailhunter-international.com

Phone: (626) 333-3355FAX: (626) 333-0115

E-Mail: Riplipboy@aol.com

U.S. Office: 3319 White Cloud Dr., Suite A, Hacienda Hts. CA 91745

Mexico office: Carr. a Pichlingue KM5; Numero 205, La Paz, Baja Sur, Mexico

“When your life finally flashes before your eyes, you will have only moments to regret all the things in life you never had the courage to try.”

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